silver corner-plates for saddle skirts

[daviD A Morris]

I want to acquire some corner-plates for a saddle which have the angle of the outside profile at LESS than 90 degrees. All of the off-the-shelf corner plates that I have seen so far are made up for an angle of the back corner of the skirts to be 90 degrees.

I try to have the bottom line of my skirts run pretty close to parrallel to the ground when the saddle is on the horse. I then like to have that back line of the skirts (up over the loins), kicked out a little at the bottom. I just measured that angle on one of my saddles which is finished. A plain saddle with no silver. And it measures 82 degrees.

The radius of the curved part doesn’t matter to me. A smaller radius just makes a pointier/squarer skirt, I can handle that. Also if the outside profile is curved all the way (sector of a circle) and no strait line then there would be no angle to measure, as in photo 2. And any angle of the skirts could blend in, tangent to the curve.

How do other saddle makers manage to fit corner plates that have a 90 degree angle to them? Or are there some quality plates out there that have a sharper angle to them? Is there a reason why all the off-the-shelf corner plates that I have seen are made with a 90deg outline??

I have a customer who wants reasonable quality silver on her saddle, but not one-off hand made stuff. $140 to $200 per pair, price range for stirling overlay. For off-the-shelf quality for price I realy like Hansen’s stirling overlayed silver, and that is in the right price range for her saddle, but I have only ever used their conchos and not their corner plates as yet. I have emailed Hansens asking if they could send me a tracing of their corner plates, but due to Christmass and New Year etc, haven’t heard back from them yet. In the meantime just wondering what other saddle makers do? Here is a picture of cornerplates from Hansen’s website and they appear to have that straight region on the outside shape like I tried to show in photo 2. Hope this doesn’t sound like I’m “picking on” Hansen’s, as I said I like their quality and value for conchos and every other manufacturer of silver for saddles that I have seen does the same thing with the outline of their corner plates.

Here is a saddle that I made a long time ago with Montana Silversmith’s corner-plates which have long straight sides which of course are at 90 degrees. I managed to “fudge” the outline of the skirts to look like they are parrallel to the silver and still get the bottom line and back-line of the skirts looking practical, but on a saddle without any of that silly silver lacing on the edges, I’d rather not have to try that “fudging” trick.

Any and all thoughts, help, comments on this topic are much appreciated.

Have happy, jolly and safe New Year.

dam

[greg gomersall]

David you could try Diablo Silversmiths at diablosilverdotcom or contact Richard Brooks at Olson Silver. Richard does great work up there in Alberta and is very moderately priced so he might be able to do a custom shape for you at not much more than Hansen's prices. The Can $ is close to 25 % lower than our US $. olsonsilverdotcom. Greg

I want to acquire some corner-plates for a saddle which have the angle of the outside profile at LESS than 90 degrees. All of the off-the-shelf corner plates that I have seen so far are made up for an angle of the back corner of the skirts to be 90 degrees.

dam

[HorsehairBraider]

I doubt this is much help... but if the metal is actually silver, that is pretty malleable metal. If it were me I'd attempt to change the shape a bit. A tap with a rawhide mallet in the right place can work wonders. Depending on the thickness of the plate that may not be possible though. The other thing I personally would attempt would be to alter the shape with my jeweler's saw, but that takes a lot of practice. (When I started years ago I used to cut out designs on coins for practice.)

Like I say, that is probably not much help, unless you have a friend or neighbor who is a silver smith and can help you with it. And if the metal is not actually sterling silver, don't try to change the shape with a tap, some metals are really brittle.

If they are casting the plates, they might be able to alter the wax for you before casting.

[steve mason]

I second the nomination for Richard Brooks, he does great work.

Steve

[daviD A Morris]

Thanks for that guys. I've sent emails off to both of them. I'd forgoten about Diablo, I used their silver back in the 1980's and liked it.

dam

[hidepounder]

David,

Hansens can be difficult to get a hold of sometimes, but keep trying. Ask for Tim. tim at hansensilver dot com, Telephone #209/847-7390. I would also Silver King in California. They are a family owned and operated business and do very nice work. Ask for Malila, malila at silverkinginc dot .com, telephone #818/700-1999. You might also want to contact Troy West here in this forum as he does beautiful saddle silver also.

Bob

Edited December 31, 2008 by Denise
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[daviD A Morris]

I am very impressed with Olsons and Diablo! They both replied to my email enquiries within 24 hours.

Thanks

dam